Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-03-11

bargain for England, Spain and Venic.
than that man makes who gives hi!
eternity for time. Yet how many there
are who are saying to-day: "Give me the
worlds dollars and you may have the
eternal rewards. Give me the worlds APP.
plause and you may nave the garlands O.
God. Give me twenty, or forty, or sixt,
years Of worldly successes and l don't carr
what becomes Of the future. 1 am goine
into that world uninsured. I take the re.
sponsibility. Don't bother me about you
religion. Here 1 have the two worlds be
fore me-this n and the next. l hav'
angels. and all thoughts of the future!"
But where is Crpsus, and Cleopatra, and
4Esopas, who had one dish of foodthat cos
81. 400, 900; and Lentulus, who had a pent
Of fish worth $175. 900; and Scaurus, wht
bought a country seat for S29, 600, 00O; an6
Tiberius, who left at death q fortune O.
Sis, 100000? Where are they? If 6
windy day should blow all the dust that is
left of them into your eyes. it would no
make you wink twice. All, my friends
then very certainly your comforts of sur.
rounding cannot keep back the old archer
You cannot charm him with music or daz.
zle him with plate, or decoy him with pic.
lures, or bride him with your money.
What is the use of your struggling TO,
that which you cannot keep! As long as
you have clothes and food and shelter and
education for yourselves and your children
and the means for Christian generosity, be
satisfied. You worry, and tug, and sweat,
and wear yourself out for that which can
not satisfy. Whole f1ocks of crows feet
On your temples and cheeks before they
ought to have come there. You are ten
years older than you ought to be, and yet
you cannot take along with you into the
future world even the two pennies on your
eyelids to keep them shut after you are
with the avidity of the miser who persisted
in having his bonds and mortgages and
notes of hand in the bosom of his dressing
gown while he was dying, and in the last
moment held his parchment in such a tight
grip that the undertaken after death
must almost break the mans fingers in
order to get the bonds away. Men
are actually making that choice. while
there are others who have done far differ
emily. When they tried to bride Martin
Luther with money, some one said:
There's nc use trying to do that-that
Dutch beast cares nothing for gold" When
they tried, by giving him q cardinals hat,
to bride Sa%vonarola, he stood up in his pull
pit and cried out: Il will have no red hat,
save that of martyrdom, colored with my
own blood" These men chose Christ amid
great prosecutions; but how many there are
in this day, when Christianity seems to be
popular, who are ashamed of Christ and
not willing to take the hardships-the
seeming hardships-of His religion. And,
alas for them! for long after the crash of
the worlds demolition, they shall find that
in all these years they were turning their
backs upon the palaces of heaven, scrab-
bling on the door of this worlds treasure
house, the saliva of a terrific lunacy on their
lips-horribly and overwhelmingly playing
the fool.
I greet you to-day, my brother, in the
very gate of eternity. Some Of us may
live a longer and some of us may live a
shorter time; but, at the longest, life is SO
short that I feel We all stand Oh the door,
sill of the great future. The next step
all the angels of God cannot undo the con-
sequences. Will your exit from this life
be a rising or a falling? The righteous go
up. The Savior helps them. Ministering
spirits meet them. The doors of paradise
open to receive them. Up! up! up! O, a
grand thing it is to die with a strong faith
in God, like that which Stonewail jackson
had, when, in his expiring moments, he said:
"Let us cross over the river, and lie down
under the shade" But to leave this world
unpreparedly is falling-falling from God,
falling from hope, falling from peace, fall
ing from heaven-swiftly falling, wildly
falling, forever falling. So it was with one
who had been eminent for his intelligence,
but who had omitted all preparation for the
future world, and had come down to his
last hour. He said to his wife, seated by
the bedside: "Oh, don't talk to me about
pain; it is the mind, woman, it is the mind!
OF all the years of my life, I never lived
one minute for heaven. It is awfully dark
here" he whispered, lit is awfullx. dark. l
seem to stand on the slippery edge of |.
And with a shrek, as when a man tum-
for this world, about all the matters of his
moral soul he was, his life long, PLAYING
the fool.
1 will take the case Of some one in the
building to-day and ask you what you think
about that case. He has been all his lrfs
amid Bibles and churches, SO that he knows
his duty. Christ has offered to do all for
that mar that a divine Savior can offer to
do for a dying soul. Heaven has been Of
fered him, yea, been pushed upon him, and
yet he has not accepted it, and to-day he
sits deliberately allowing his chances of
life TO go away from him. What do you
say of that one? "Hallucinated," saws one;
"Monomaniacal," says another; "Playine
the fool" says another. O, how many
there are taking just that position! There
is u o thing as pyromania, an insanity
which disposes one to destroy buildings by
fire; but who would have thought that there
was a pyromania Of the immortal nature,
and that any one could be SO struck through
with that insanity as to have a desire and
disposition to consume the soul?
Awake, man! awake, woman! from the
phantasia, real or affected. Take Christ.
Escape for eternity. just see what has been
done for yon. Lift the thornv cap from the
brow of Jesus, and see the price that was
paid for your liberation. Look at the side,
and see where the spear went in and moved
round and round, amid broken arteries, the
blood rushing forth in awful sacrifice for
your sins. o, wrap those bare and mutt
lated feet of the dying Lord in your
womanly lap, for they were torn in a hard
tramp for your soul! o, for tears to weep
over this liberation of Christ! o, for a
broken heart to worship Him! o, for an
omnipotent impulse strong enough to throw
this whole audience down at the feet
of q crucified and risen Jesus! We must
repent. We must believe. We must be
saved. l cannot consent to have you lose
your souls. Come with me, and as in the
summer time we go down to the beach and
battle in the waters, SC to-day let US join
Io y,J nrl r,o1~ 1-,.- IL